'Muhammad Ali was The Greatest', says Obama

Updated: Saturday, June 4, 2016, 20:05 [IST]

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Washington, Jun 4: "Muhammad Ali was The Greatest" and a champion "who fought for what was right", US PresidentBarack Obama and First Lady Michelle today said as they led America in mourning the death of the legendary boxer.

"Muhammad Ali shook up the world. And the world is better for it. We are all better for it. Michelle and I send our deepest condolences to his family, and we pray that the greatest fighter of them all finally rests in peace," Obama and the First Lady said in a statement.

In his private study, just off the Oval Office, Obama said he had kept a pair of his gloves on display, just under that iconic photograph of him  the young champ, just 22 years old, roaring like a lion over a fallen Sonny Liston.

Ali died today at a Phoenix-area hospital after a long struggle with Parkinson's disease. He was 74. Mourning the death of Muhammad Ali, Obama and the First Lady said they are grateful to God for how fortunate they are to have known him, "if just for a while; for how fortunate we all are that The Greatest chose to grace our time." "Muhammad Ali was The Greatest," they said.

"A man who fought for us. He stood with King and Mandela; stood up when it was hard; spoke out when others wouldn't. His fight outside the ring would cost him his title and his public standing."

"It would earn him enemies on the left and the right, make him reviled, and nearly send him to jail. But Ali stood his ground. And his victory helped us get used to the America we recognise today," he added.

"He wasnt perfect, of course. For all his magic in the ring, he could be careless with his words, and full of contradictions as his faith evolved. But his wonderful, infectious, even innocent spirit ultimately won him more fans than foes  maybe because in him, we hoped to see something of ourselves," the first couple said in the statement.

"Later, as his physical powers ebbed, he became an even more powerful force for peace and reconciliation around the world. We saw a man who said he was so mean he'd make medicine sick reveal a soft spot, visiting children with illness and disability around the world, telling them they, too, could become the greatest.

"We watched a hero light a torch, and fight his greatest fight of all on the world stage once again; a battle against the disease that ravaged his body, but couldnt take the spark from his eyes," the statement said.